The EU needs to ban American malware. Legislation to keep EU citizens data in Europe can't come soon enough.

Drive Google and Meta to the ground and impose 'cleaner' alternatives.

>The company claims to have granular details on more than 2.5 billion people across 62 different countries. The chances that Acxiom knows a whole lot about you, reader, are good. > >In many respects, data brokering is a shadowy enterprise. The industry mostly operates in quiet business deals the public never hears about, especially smaller firms that engage with data on particularly sensitive subjects. Compared to other parts of the tech industry, data brokers face little scrutiny from regulators, and in large part they evade attention from the media. > >You almost never directly interact with a company like Acxiom, but its operation intersects with your life on a near constant basis through a byzantine pipeline of data exchanges. Acxiom is in the business of identity, helping other companies figure out who you are, what you’re like, and how you might be persuaded to spend money. Got a list of a list of 50,000 of your customers’ names? Acxiom can tell you more about them. Want to find the perfect audience for your next ad campaign—perhaps people who’ve gone through bankruptcy or Latino families that spend a lot on healthcare? Acxiom knows where to look. > >Though Engelgau’s business understands so much about so many people, most people know very little about Acxiom. Engelgau offered to sit down for an interview with Gizmodo to offer a look at one of the least understood corners of the digital economy.

This interview seems to serve as a decent introduction into the world of data brokers for those who are unfamiliar, though there also seems to be a dose of self-promotion and justification within as well. It's good that he talks about the standards they have for privacy and not doing harm with their data, but as a whole, the industry is far shadier than that. Regulation of data collection/analytics would be something that might help to bring some accountability to this sector.

Q: something about Metaverse, what's it for you?

>It’s still early days for us, but there are two key things. The first is identity. We can help Metaverse platforms better describe the individuals who are on their networks, beyond the data they already have. People sign up or log-in using an email address, and that gives us an opportunity. We can work with our key partners, like we do in social or mobile or other networks, and help them understand how they can reach specific audience members, and how users fit into core demographics.

That's just creepy to me, and I wish it was for others but I know most people are completely bored by it and that's possibly the best we can get. People, for the most part, simply refuse to grok why it matters.

Of course his name is Chad.

Target Acquired

Seems like a bit of promotional piece for this company as the CEO goes on at length about how much they care about privacy and ethics. I don’t believe him at all.

Fuck Gizmodo for doing puff pieces for this company and this asshole.

Creeps like this shouldn’t be allowed to do business or run businesses. Not an ethical bone in their bodies.

> Restricting the flow of data has real consequences on economic growth. That was proven out with GDPR in Europe, there are unintended consequences there too. Five years later, a lot of small companies went out of business, while Google and Meta got more powerful.

What about how much safer I feel about browsing (some parts of) the internet and that I actively avoid sign ups on american websites?

Since you got all my data, how about telling advertisers to stop promoting, to me, shit i already own. I aint buying another console or the same game 40 times.